Peace and Sport joins forces with UNESCO

Paris, 19 October - UNESCO and 'Peace and Sport L'Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport' today signed a groundbreaking Partnership Agreement at the 7th UNESCO Youth Forum, which is being held from 17 to 20 October at UNESCO Headquarters.

The objective of this partnership is to promote the role of sport as a vehicle for peace, particularly in Africa in areas affected by armed conflict or natural disaster, by strengthening cooperation between Peace and Sport, whose mission is to put sport at the service of peace in vulnerable areas of the planet, and UNESCO, which promotes a culture of non-violence through sport.

The first actions undertaken as part of this partnership will be: to define an emergency response plan for post-conflict and post-disaster situations, using sport as a tool for social integration, mental resilience and overcoming trauma; to develop social entrepreneurship through sport; to manage an online database of best practices in peace through sport that can be duplicated by actors in the field (NGOs and associations); to monitor the impact of projects in order to improve effectiveness in the field; to set up a system for following the progress of recommendations made during international conferences on sport, peace and development, so that they are consistent and actions of various stakeholders are coordinated.

Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, said: "Sport is a great way to educate youth about their role within the community, especially regarding human rights, democracy and gender equality. UNESCO already supports many initiatives that use the social dimension of sport. I am delighted to sign this partnership with Peace and Sport today, which will allow us to broaden this initiative."

"We share the same belief as UNESCO, that young people living in unstable conditions should not just be considered as beneficiaries of social welfare projects"Joel Bouzou, President and Founder of Peace and Sportadded. "They must be respected co-owners and fully participate in decision-making processes that shape their future. Sport is a great way to help them achieve greater autonomy and responsibility. We are working with UNESCO with this in mind to provide these young people with more opportunities to become actors for sustainable peace."

To carry out their mission, Peace and Sport and UNESCO will particularly rely on the expertise of the Intergovernmental Committee for Physical Education and Sport (CIGEPS).

Made up of representatives from 18 UNESCO Member States, all experts in the field of physical education and Sport, CIGEPS was founded in 1978 to develop the role and value of sport and encourage it to be considered in public policy-making.

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